The present invention relates to a method and system for informing a customer that an order is ready. More particularly, it relates to a method and system for informing a customer that their photofinishing order is ready and providing additional information as to what is contained in the order.
In a typical photofinishing operation, a customer drops off his/her film to be processed and printed at a site usually located in a photo specialty store or other retail location. In a traditional photofinishing operation, the customer must return at a later time to pick up the finished photographic prints. In recent years, on-line photofinishing services have emerged where a customer""s film images, once processed, are electronically scanned and the resulting digital images stored. The customer may access these images remotely, for example from a home computer or kiosk, electronically mail the images to others, or order hard copy prints or other photographic goods or services all remotely.
In order to retrieve his/her pictures from a traditional photofinishing service, the customer must know when the order is complete and has been delivered to the retail location where the order was placed. Traditional photofinishing services often provide a promised delivery date, but sometimes this date is not met, resulting in an annoying unnecessary first trip and a second trip for pickup. Other than placing a phone call to check on the order, there is no solution to avoid this potential problem. In the hurly-burly of life today, a customer may even forget that a photofinishing order was placed.
In a more recent scenario, a consumer with a digital camera can upload pictures to a web site where they are printed and returned via a typical delivery service. This can cause a problem where weather in combination with roadside mailboxes leaves a delivered print order at risk. Additionally, the consumer must bear the cost of shipping the prints, which can be substantial, as photographic grade paper is much heavier per square inch than standard letter grade paper. To eliminate the concerns of security, weather, and shipping costs, a consumer may elect to pick up the prints at a convenient retailer thus raising the need for notification again. With regard to the retailer, customers who upload directly to an online photofinisher don""t visit the retail store. Providing the customers with an option to pick up at the retailer of their choice offers value to the customer and provides the retailer with a customer they wouldn""t normally attract for this transaction.
Several solutions to the problem of notification of a completed order have been provided recently for the case of on-line photofinishing services. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,219 by Moghadam, et. al, assigned to the Eastman Kodak Company, discloses a method of recording a customer""s electronic address directly on a roll of film via a magnetic recording layer present on the film, for example such as that found in the Advanced Photographic System. Once the film has been processed and scanned, notification that the order is ready to be viewed can be automatically sent to the customer""s electronic address. More recently, users of the internet service provider, xe2x80x9cAmerica On Linexe2x80x9d(trademark) (AOL) may simply check the appropriate box when submitting film for photofinishing and later receive the notification xe2x80x9cYou""ve Got Picturesxe2x80x9d when they log in to their AOL account. However, neither of these solutions provide any information about the content of the particular order which has been completed, only that an order is available for viewing. If multiple rolls had been submitted, a customer might wish to know which roll had which content without having to open up each order.
In the co-pending, commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/213,517, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION OF DIGITAL IMAGES GENERATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM, filed Dec. 17, 1998, by Joseph A. Manico, C. S. Willand, Madhav Mehra, and H. E. Bussey, there is disclosed a method where a roll of film or a single use camera is provided to the customer with a unique Universal Resource Locator (URL) code associated with it. This code can be used by the customer at a later time to access pictures electronically on a computer via the internet or from a public kiosk. This solution does not address the problem of notification of the customer when the order is ready to be accessed. At present the customer can only re-try the address at a later time until the order is received.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for permitting a customer to pick up at a retailer a remotely placed photofinishing order, comprising the steps of:
a. a customer electronically placing a photofinishing order having at least one digital image to a remote photofinishing lab;
b. the customer selecting a retailer to which the completed photofinishing order is to be sent;
c. the photofinishing lab forwarding the completed photofinishing order to the selected retailer; and
e. forwarding a notification to the customer that the photofinishing order was shipped to the retailer, said notification includes a visual display of at least one digital image of said photofinishing order.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for permitting a customer to pick up at a retailer a remotely placed photofinishing order, comprising the steps of:
a customer electronically placing a photofinishing order having at least one digital image to a remote photofinishing lab;
said customer selecting a retailer to which the completed photofinishing order is to be sent;
said photofinishing lab forwarding said completed photofinishing order to said selected retailer;
forwarding a notification to said customer that said photofinishing order was shipped to said retailer; and
further comprising the step of said photofinishing lab obtaining compensation form said retailer based on the customer selecting said retailer for picking up f said photofinishing order.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for permitting a customer to pick up at a retailer a remotely placed photofinishing order, comprising the steps of:
a customer electronically placing a photofinishing order having at least one digital image to a remote photofinishing lab;
said customer selecting a retailer to which the completed photofinishing order is to be sent;
said photofinishing lab forwarding said completed photofinishing order to said selected retailer; and
forwarding a notification to said customer that said photofinishing order was shipped to said retailer wherein said photofinishing order comprises a plurality of images, said notification comprises at least one digital image that is selected from said plurality of image in accordance with a predetermnined criteria.